In the first major endorsement of candidates in the March 7 West Hollywood City Council election, City Councilmember John D’Amico has given his support to incumbents John Duran and John Heilman.
“I have a history of endorsing outsiders,” D’Amico said, “and yet I have been thoughtful in considering this election, and I decided to endorse John and John.”
“I just see that John Duran’s eloquence and speaking up for people and keeping alive the history of our people and what matters to them is unmatched,” D’Amico said. “John Heilman’s deep history with elected and appointed officials across the city at all levels of government is unparallelled.”
D’Amico said that given the turmoil in the country with the election of Donald Trump as president, it is especially important to have elected officials with Duran’s and Heilman’s sense of history and connections.
“Things have the potential to require much more specific attention, and I think John and John can provide that,” he said.
D’Amico’s endorsement of Heilman is likely to surprise some voters, given their contentious relationship after D’Amico was elected to the city council in 2011 in a campaign that was focused against Heilman, who has served on the council since the city’s incorporation in 1984, save for a few months in 2015. But D’Amico said the two have built a good working relationship over the years.
Duran and Heilman are two of ten candidates for two seats on the city council. Many of the others have been relatively unknown, although Steve Martin, an attorney and former council member, and Cynthia Blatt, a neighborhood activist, have greater recognition.
West Hollywood isn’t just an address, or a party town, or a “top-ten” destination city. While it it can rightly claim to be all three, West Hollywood from its first day of municipal life can more aptly be described as a journey, an adventure, and a way of life that is less concerned about who and what we are than how and what we are becoming. That’s not always easy for the hometowners or recent arrivals to accept when one loves West Hollywood’s historic village charms and small town mindset There is no doubt that our politics swing wildly between… Read more »
Heilman and Duran represent a segment of misogynist West Hollywood gay male population “wounded” for life, wherever they came from, fleeing to WeHo while forever “feeling special.” At Abbe Land’s City Council retirement ceremony Heilman said it all: “I never thought of Abbe as being a Woman.”
Heilman and Duran..most qualified and have done an excellent job running our City.
If it ain’t broke..don’t f*ck with it.
Error! That was a nearly $1Million cost attributed to Ms. Blatt’s uninformed shenanigans surrounding 826 King’s Road.
Michael Cautillo, I know nothing about you, but that is the exact mantra used prior to our Presidential election, and well, we see how well that worked out. I would not use those words in your campaign, if I were you.
@larry Not if they are not re-elected.
@dan. My reasoning about supporting the johns is same as D’Amico’s reasoning. Do you understand the premise? It’s the same premise that stops Lauren from endorsing.. she would rather work with them too!
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Councilmember D’Amico’s reasoning for his endorsements of two people he has had very public and toxic disagreements with is, to me, akin to the Bush 2004 election strategy of fomenting fear in the electorate. Substitute Trump for Al-Qaeda and, well, you get the drift. And D’Amico says he has a history of endorsing outsiders and then decides to give his stamp of approval to the two most inside people you can imagine. Something is not right here. What is D’Amico’s true motivation for going down this path? I guess only time will tell.
Boooooooooooo!!!
@Tom Smart: it’s easy to criticize online in the proverbial ping pong of issues. Our city is small enough that if a constituent has solutions they can bring them forward through a council member(s) of their choice and actually gain some street cred with progress. Hissing at folks on line or during public comment is not digging in. Talk is cheap. Please put yourself out there or in there as the case may be.
As for that other guy, you have a right to your opinion as do I.